Romney to campaign in Naples on Sunday

January 28, 2012

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney will stump Sunday afternoon at the Sugden Plaza on Fifth Avenue South in downtown Naples. He was in Lehigh Acres this past week where he drew hundreds on supporters as he stood in front of a foreclosed home and said that President Obama's State of the Union address that night would be his last.

Returnting the Southwest Florifda, the stop comes along a weekend campaign sweep through the Panhandle and parts of southern Florida.

Naples Mayor-elect John Sorey said the event could draw upwards of 1,000 people, the capacity of the plaza. Much more than that and the city may close Fifth Avenue South between Eighth and Park streets, he said.

About 6,000 people attended a rally in Cambier Park on Tuesday for presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.

"We just don't know what kind of crowd we're going to get at noon on Sunday," Sorey said.

Romney returns to Southwest Florida after giving a speech to hundreds in front of a foreclosed home in Lehigh Acres on Tuesday.

Saturday, the former Massachusetts governor will speak in Pensacola and Panama City. Sunday includes stops in Naples at 12:30 p.m., Hialeah and Pompano Beach. All the events are free and open to the public.

Romney has increased his lead over Gingrich among likely Republican voters going into Florida's presidential preference primary on Tuesday, a new poll shows. Romney was favored by 38 percent compared with Gingrich's 29 percent in a random telephone survey of 580 likely Florida Republican voters, the Quinnipiac (Conn.) University Polling Institute reported Friday.

Romney is also leading in early voting exit polling conducted by the Daily News this week in Collier and South Lee counties.

Sorey said crews would be preparing for the rally nearly around the clock starting Saturday, building a stage and a press riser in anticipation of national news coverage.

"What they're basically doing is looking at where they can get the most exposure for the effort," said Sorey, a Romney supporter and chair of his campaign in Collier County.